WPP’s Kantar Media on Wednesday announced its foray into programmatic through a number of partnerships that will allow publishers to display their available programmatic inventory through
Kantar's SRDS.com media planning platform.

The SRDS database is accessed via subscription.

The company has partnered with some of the biggest names on the supply side of the
equation, including Rubicon Project, PubMatic, OpenX, iSocket, Adslot, BuySellAds and Shiny Ads. Publishers that have a direct relationship with any of the aforementioned companies can showcase their
inventory in SRDS.

The partnerships feature a healthy mix of companies that specialize in real-time bidding (RTB) and “programmatic direct.” Through these partnerships, Kantar will
exhibit inventory for that’s up for sale within private marketplace or though “programmatic direct” means; Kantar says its focus is on keeping planners informed of available
“premium” inventory.

The publishers and publishing partners hope the deal with Kantar will increase visibility -- and ultimately interest -- to programmatic "premium"
offerings. Kantar says its SRDS database is used by more than 1,000 U.S. agencies.

“As PubMatic and the programmatic industry begins to see significant growth in private
marketplace deals, it is critical that we surface publisher packages earlier in the discovery phase for buyers,” stated Kirk McDonald, president of PubMatic.